US software firm invests £3m sterling in Belfast operation

A software development arm of a US financial services company is to invest under £3m sterling to deploy training and development services in Belfast, siliconrepublic.com has learned.

Liberty Information Technology (LIT), the Belfast software development subsidiary of Liberty Mutual Group (LMG) of Boston, is investing more than £2.9m sterling to develop new services for its US parent company and embark on further training and development.

Invest Northern Ireland (NI) is supporting LIT investment by providing up to £247k sterling in financial assistance, towards the creation of 26 new jobs, 16 of which are in place. Training and development assistance of up to £62,140 sterling is also being provided.

Chief executive of Invest NI, Leslie Morrison, commented: “This is a significant investment that further secures LIT as the key software centre for the group at a time when other companies are choosing to outsource to third-party suppliers, particularly in India and eastern Europe.

“This further endorsement of LIT by LMG adds to NI’s international standing as a centre of excellence for software development and to Belfast’s growing reputation in financial services.”

Gordon Bell, LIT’s manager said: “The overall aim of this investment is to extend the services that we provide to business units throughout the group.

“It will mean additional software work for our current LMG customers and new projects for units not currently serviced by us. We’ve already secured new business from Liberty International Underwriters, which has offices in the US, Canada, Australia, Singapore, France, Germany, England and Ireland. For the first time, we are providing software to LMG business units outside the US.

“The investment is a further demonstration of the confidence which the group has in the quality of the team in Belfast and in our ability to continue to source highly skilled people from local universities.”